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Starbucks said last week that it is closing 16 stores over safety concerns. Around that time, Debbie Stroud and Denise Nelson, both senior vice presidents of US operations at the company, outlined the efforts that Starbucks is taking to make stores safer in an open letter.
Workers are “seeing firsthand the challenges facing our communities — personal safety, racism, lack of access to healthcare, a growing mental health crisis, rising drug use, and more,” they wrote, adding that “with stores in thousands of communities across the country, we know these challenges can, at times, play out within our stores too.”
In cases where it isn’t able to create a safe environment in a store, Starbucks will close it permanently, the letter continued. In those instances, the company will move employees to neighboring stores.
“One of the primary concerns that our retail partners have is their own personal safety,” Schultz said in the video, which was taken during a meeting last week discussing these efforts, according to a spokesperson.
The focus on safety is part of Schultz’s broader efforts to revamp the company as it tries to fend off a growing unionization drive.
“We need to reinvent Starbucks for the future,” he wrote in an open letter last week, noting that the company must “radically” improve employee experiences. He added that based on feedback from employees, the company will strive to create “safety, welcoming and kindness for our stores.”
Union organizers have in the past pointed to store closures as a way to intimidate workers.
Regarding that store closure, a company spokesperson said at the time that Starbucks opens and closes stores as part of its regular operations, without offering specific reasons.
“Our local, regional and national leaders have been working with humility, deep care and urgency to create the kind of store environment that partners and customers expect of Starbucks,” the Starbucks spokesperson said in June. “Our goal is to ensure that every partner is supported in their individual situation and we have immediate opportunities available in the market.”
During its most recent fiscal year, Starbucks closed 424 US company-operated stores, or about 5% of its total, while opening 449 new locations. There are roughly 9,000 company-operated Starbucks stores in the United States.
— CNN Business’s Chris Isidore and Ramishah Maruf contributed to this report.
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